Mpls. cancels classes at 27 schools due to heat

MINNEAPOLIS -- Minneapolis Public Schools are cancelling classes at 27 schools without air conditioning on Thursday Aug. 29, and Friday Aug. 30.

School officials say this is in response to high temperatures hitting the region.

Classes will resume after Labor Day.

MPS District spokesman Stan Alleyne would not say why this decision was made now instead of earlier in the week when the temperatures were actually warmer.

"We feel like we maybe made some mistakes but this is not a perfect system," Alleyne said when he was asked if the district was in error about holding school Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Alleyne said the decision came after several daily meetings and the assessment of staff and students at the schools in question.

"People sweat all day for a couple, three days now and it has wear and tear and so what looked like was an OK situation on Monday and Tuesday we just had more people tired and sluggish today," Alleyne said.

Jessica Henrickson has two children in schools without AC and she felt school should have been cancelled since Monday.

"I know my kids were misreble in class. My son said he had three bottles of water and was still dizzy. That doesn't help the learning environment," Henrickson said.

"While we were able to deploy additional resources to lessen the effects of heat as much as possible Monday through Wednesday, we determined that the level of support necessary for student health and safety at these locations would be unsustainable the remainder of the week," according to a Minneapolis Public Schools release.